


stardust

by allp_wips



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-06-27 16:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19795006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allp_wips/pseuds/allp_wips
Summary: Alex kidnaps a fallen star. (Stardust AU)





	stardust

Alex finds the falling star by following the sound of the "Ow ow ow fuck fuck oh fuckity fuck fuck- _ow_!" noises that are coming from the otherwise quiet and abandoned northern plains.

Well, that and the giant impact crater that the star had made, as it made contact with the ground. Alex stumbles down the side of the still-smoking crater, not caring about her burning hands, and runs to the middle of it, where the fallen star is stirring back to consciousness.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks, dropping to her knees and looming over the star. She'd been the town doctor's apprentice for a while, before Kara had fallen ill and everything had gone to shit, and that training kicks in now. "Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up? How do you feel?"

The star blinks, as she tries to focus on the fingers that Alex is holding up in front of her face, before she finally speaks.

"I just fell sixty bloody miles, and hit the ground hard enough to make a crater," she says. "How the fuck do you think I feel?"

Alex blinks. Somehow, she hadn't really expected stars to be able to swear.

"I'm going to take that as an okay," she says. 

The star stares around her, before pushing herself up on her elbows, and getting a good look at Alex. "I'm on Earth, aren't I? And you're a human."

"I'm Alex," Alex says.

"I'm Astra."

Alex frowns. "A star named Astra, really? You couldn't come up with something more original than that?"

"I didn't come up with it," Astra says, and then stares at the plains around them again. "From what I've seen of Earth, no human comes this far north of your lands. What are you doing here?"

Alex winces. She'd hoped that they'd have some icrebreaker conversation before they get to this part. On the other hand, maybe it's better this way. 

"About that," she says.

She removes the coil of silvery rope attached to her belt, lassoes it, and has it wrapped tightly around the injured star, before Astra has a chance to more than blink at her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry about this," Alex says. "You see, the reason I came here is to kidnap you."

The fallen star sits in the middle of the crater with her arms crossed around her torso, and the rest of her body tied with the silver rope.

"Bloody humans," she says, not looking particularly surprised. "I should have known."

Alex frowns, and gives a little tug on the rope. "Well, come on."

"No," Astra says, her arms still crossed, and her face still eerily calm, for the subject of an impromptu kidnapping. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You can walk," Alex says, "Or, I can drag you."

She's pretty sure that a star who survived a fall to Earth can survive being dragged on land for a few days.

"You can try."

Alex gives a few experimental tugs of the rope. Astra gives a grunt of surprise, as she's lifted off the ground with the force of Alex's tugs.

"Alright, alright, I'll walk."

"Good," Alex says, reaching down and wrapping her up with the cloak she'd brought along. "There, that ought to keep the chill out."

"I don't feel the cold, fool."

Alex lets out an exasperated puff of breath. "Whatever, come on. We need to get going soon, if we want to get back by the end of the week."

She starts walking, still holding on to the rope, and the star unwillingly falls into step.

"Bloody humans," she repeats. "You're all the same."

"How many humans have you met?" Alex asks. "You can't go around making snap judgments like that about us."

"You're the first human I've met," Astra says, "And you're kidnapping me. I think I'm good."

Alex huffs. "Well, we're not all as terrible as me."

"A comfort, I'm sure."

Alex frowns. "Look, kidnapping falling stars isn't exactly my favourite choice of profession, either. I was going to be doctor. But, the Luthor witch wanted a falling star in exchage for healing my sister, so here I am."

"Aren't you selfless?" Astra looks unimpressed. "They all say something like that. You think I'm the first star a human has stolen?"

Alex shakes her head, somehow feeling disappointed. It's not like she cares if the star likes her, or thinks well of her. She just needs to get her to the witch, and make sure that the witch keeps up her end of the bargain.

"I don't care," she says. "I didn't travel halfway around the world to find someone who can cure Kara's illness, just to be thwarted now. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not."

"Kara?" The star frowns. "Your sister is named Kara?"

"My adopted sister, yes," Alex says. "What, you got a thing against Kara as a name, now?"

"Don't be silly," Astra says. "It's just, odd. My great grandmother was named Kara. My sister always said that she would name a daughter after her, if she ever had one."

Alex blinks. "How can stars have grandmothers?"

"You just caught a bloody star falling out of the sky, and you're asking how stars can have grandmothers?" Astra's supercilious reply is directed at Alex with an equally supercilious raise of her eyebrows.

Alex rolls her eyes. Privately, she admits that maybe she deserved that one.

"Well, what in heaven does your witch want with me?"

"She said you can help her heal Kara," Alex says.

Astra snorts.

"If you really think that a star can heal human diseases, you're even stupider than I thought."

"You don't know the Luthor witch," Alex says, stubbornly. "She's known through all of Welland for her powers, and she's never been wrong."

Astra still looks unimpressed.

"What is this obsession with humans and thinking stars can save you from everything wrong with your life?" she wonders. "I'm sure that the human who took my sister thought so too."

"A human took your sister?" Alex asks, turning to look at the star in surprise.

"Oh, he said her loved her," Astra says, shaking her head. "I'm sure she thought that she was in love with him too, but I know his type."

Her face grows melancholy, and her voice quiet.

"My sister was always too fond of humans. She had great fun, watching them go about their silly little lives."

"Have you ever thought that maybe she was right?" Alex asks. "Maybe she really loved him, and he her."

Astra snorts. "You humans aren't capable of true love. I've seen how your feelings change, like weather. One decade, you're madly in love. The next, you're mortal enemies. The only thing constant about your species is your inconstancy."

Alex is offended at first, before she realizes that of course an immortal star would see the years pass by like a blink, while they stretched on for humans.

"Sounds like you've been watching us just as avidly as your sister," she comments

The star goes red.

"Don't you dare," Astra spits, sounding truly angry for the first time. "Humans took everything I loved from me. From that day, I swore to turn my face from your world forever. Do not ever presume that I care about your species."

She looks more furious than she'd looked when Alex had tied her up. Despite herself, Alex is taken aback.

"Fine," she hisses, feeling more hurt than she knows she deserves to feel. "I don't care. As long as the witch can make you save Kara, you can hate me forever, for all I care."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

They walk a few more minutes in huffy silence. Then the star, apparently incapable of going without annoying Alex for even a half an hour, starts off again.

"I still don't understand," she gripes. "Why does the witch think I can heal your sister?"

"Don't ask me," Alex says. "Witches speak in riddles more often than not, and this one is the most incomprehensible of them all. Whatever Kara is suffering form, she said that you could help save her."

"I doubt it," Astra says. "I'm a star, not a miracle worker."

"You're just trying to trick me into letting you go," Alex says. "Well, I'm not falling for it."

"And what might this illness be?" Astra asks idly, as if indulging a child, "The one that I'm supposed to cure your sister of?"

"I don't exactly know," Alex admits. "The Luthor witch gave a complicated name for it. _Queeny_ \- _key in a_ \- ugh, I don't remember!"

" _Cianalas_ ," Astra says. Suddenly, the star looks thoughtful. "That's the word she used, was it not?"

"It could be," Alex says, shrugging. "It wasn't any disease I've ever heard of, and Doctor Jones taught me everything he knew about all the common illnesses."

"Hmm."

"What now?" Alex asks, with a sigh.

When the witch had told her to find a fallen star, she'd thought it would be easy. Lasso the star, bring her to the witch, heal Kara, boom. Making conversation with an arrogant immortal being for a week hadn't been in the fine print. Astra seems determined to _annoy_ Alex into letting her go.

She glances to her side again to see that, for the first time, Astra is looking at her, not with contempt, but with surprised contemplation.

"I've decided," Astra announces, "to indulge your stupidity for now."

She looks at Alex expectantly, as if she's due gratitude or some similar reaction in response to this concession.

"I mean," Alex says, "I was still going to take you with me, one way or another."

"Winning as ever," the star says, rolling her eyes. "Just like a human."

"Just like a condescending bloody star," Alex says, under her breath.

She walks faster, hoping that would cut down the hours she has to deal with the constant complaints. For a wonder, though, Astra keeps silent. The few times Alex sneaks sideways glances at her, the star seems lost in her own thoughts, looking very far away. She looks as if she's working out a riddle. 

It's a bit unnerving, and it throws Alex off, which is why they travel a good mile before she remembers a question that she'd been meaning to ask Astra, before their last argument.

"Hey, Astra?"

"Yes?" The star sounds absent-minded, as if she's still absorbed in working out whatever problem seems to be posessing her.

"How did you know the name of the illness that Kara is suffering from?" Alex asks. "What does it mean?"

"Oh, that." A curious smile breaks over Astra's face. "C _ianalas._ Homesickness. It means a longing for home."

\---


End file.
